Pasta Primavera

Monthly Archive for November, 2008

Shugo Tokumaru Daytrotter Session

Japan’s version of Sufjan Stevens, Shugo Tokumaru, recently rolled through the Daytrotter studios for a quaint session.  Back in September I wrote a post on him and was quite impressed with the forest of instruments being played on most of his tunes.  In the Daytrotter session we get to hear the skeleton of a couple of songs and the outcome is quite different – but still good music of course.  Here’s my favorite of the recordings:

mp3: Shugo Tokumaru – Wedding (Daytrotter Session)

Listen and read about the rest of the tunes here.

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The Run Down – Sunday November 30, 2008

Tonight down in DC Sebastien Grainger and the Mountains rolls into town at DC9 with Josh Reichman and We Were Pirates.  Also in DC is Q-Tip at the 9:30 Club with The Cool Kids and Pacific Division.  Up north in Philly don’t miss out on the beautifully wild sounds of El Guincho at the Barbary with Lemonade and Magnet City Kids.  Also up there at the North Star Bar are Long Walk Home, Phantasm, and Currents.

mp3: Sebastien Grainger and the Mountains – American Names

mp3: Josh Reichman Oracle Band – Believe In Souls

mp3: We Were Pirates – The Wolf

mp3: El Guincho – Palmitos Park

mp3: The Cool Kids – Delivery Man

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New Beach House Video “Used To Be” and Tour Dates w/ The Walkmen

Beach House have just released their new video (p4ktv) for “Used To Be” off of their 7″ single they put out this past October. The video, directed by Matt Amato, is a beautifully shot desolate western traveler that feels so distant from the chill in the air right now. Quite amazing though. Check it:

mp3: Beach House – Used To Be

Beach House has also announced a string of dates through December and January, some of which include The Walkmen on the bill. Now that’s an awesome line up!

Dec. 06 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of Living Arts*
Dec. 09 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg #
Dec. 10 Providence, RI Club Hell #
Dec. 11 Northampton, MA Iron Horse Music Hall #
Dec. 12 Boston, MA Museum of Fine Arts #
Jan. 19 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern*
Jan. 20 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda*
Jan. 21 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore*
Jan. 23 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom*
Jan. 24 Seattle, WA Neumos*

* = w/ The Walkmen
# = w/ Tickley Feather

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The Run Down – Saturday November 29, 2008

As many are away on their vacations from the daily 9-5, it can be expected that the shows seem to dry up over the weekend.  That seems to be the case for tonight.  One lone exception is up in Philly tonight.  Method Man and Redman roll up north to put on a tight show at the Trocadero.  If you’re up to it, it should be awesome.

mp3: Method Man & Redman – Maaad Crew

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Friday (I’m A Remix)

Now that the REAL Thanksgiving has come and gone, we can all sit back and contemplate the next holiday.  Good ole X-mas.  The celebration of X.  Here’s some audio treats to soothe your stuffing stuffed mind while evaluating what X really means to you.

mp3: Chromeo – Fancy Footwork (Crookers Remix)

mp3: Chromeo – 100% (Treasure Fingers’ B-Live Pemberton Mix)

mp3: Clinic – Tomorrow (DFA Remix)

mp3: Michael Jackson – Thriller (DiscoTech Remix)

Sorry for the excess Chromeo remixes of late, but I can’t seem to get enough of it!

image by David Shrigley via

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New Video/Song – Glasvegas “Please Come Back Home”

On December 1st, Glasvegas is set to release a limited edition Christmas EP, A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like A Kiss) packaged with their sweet debut s/t LP (which we reviewed here). They’ve just put out the first video/track from the album entitled “Please Come Back Home”. I am not a fan of Christmas albums AT ALL, but if they all sounded like this I might be singing a different tune. Enjoy!

Glasvegas – Please Come Back Home

photo by Sonia Grace

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The Tough Alliance “A New Chance”

I’ve just started to be really impressed by Sweden’s The Tough Alliance.  A few months back I had the pleasure to listen/review their debut LP The New School (it was finally released stateside – here’s the review).  I compared their sound to a futuristic android version of The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson.  A few weeks ago I was also lucky enough to get my ears around their 2007 release A New Chance.  This album has TTA’s unique sound painted all over it, but with an influx of samples, heavy world music, and club/house beats.  At first these manipulations were off-putting, but after soaking it all in, I’ve come ’round to it as of late.

mp3: The Tough Alliance – A New Chance

mp3: The Tough Alliance – Miami

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The Run Down – Friday November 28, 2008

If you managed to wake up out of that post Thanksgiving hibernation and avoided Black Friday’s death grasp, then perhaps you’re up for the few shows happening around town tonight.  Down in DC They Might Be Giants are playing the 9:30 Club and I’ve heard something about them performing their hit album Flood all the way through.  Cool.  Up in Philly there’s a sweet show at the Starlight Ballroom with Dr. Dog and the always lively King Khan & BBQ Show is rolling into Johnny Brenda’s with Vivian Girls, The Jacuzzi Boys, and Love City.

mp3: Dr. Dog – The Beach

mp3: They Might Be Giants – Mesopotamians

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